The Mystery Assassin
by mmcgonagall06
Summary: The inhabitants of Gryffindor Tower are awoken by an intruder in the middle of the night. Emotions race and tempers boil as the seventhyears set off into the castle. Will they be able to catch the perpetrator and make it back to Gryffindor Tower alive?
1. A Bump in the Night

Harry sat bolt upright in his four-poster and stared around the dormitory. He had been awakened from a very amusing dream in which he had turned his cousin Dudley into a frog. The frog had tried to hop away but was too fat and couldn't budge. Harry was trying to remember why he had been torturing Dudley when he suddenly remembered why he'd waken up. Harry had heard a high-pitched scream and the loud crack of splintering wood from somewhere below the dormitory that he shared with the other seventh-year Gryffindor boys.

Harry swung his legs off of his bed and grabbed his wand off his bedside table. He'd hardly gotten any sleep in the last four months since the end of the last school year and wasn't particularly happy about having been awakened at (he glanced at his watch) 3 o' clock in the morning.

Hearing high-pitched screaming in the middle of the night was something that Harry and the rest of the castle had become accustomed to since Dumbledore had been murdered and Voldemort had returned. It was mostly just people having nightmares about Voldemort. Except the scream that Harry had just heard didn't sound like a scream that someone would let out during a nightmare. This one was oddly strangled and in pain, and what about the splintering wood?

After checking to see if any of the other boys were awake and grabbing his bathrobe off the end of his bed, Harry set off cautiously down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. He almost screamed himself when he saw the horrific scene that greeted him. In the middle of the common room, a tall hooded figure stood with its back to Harry, forcing a terrified looking sixth-year girl with flaming red hair back into a corner.

"Ginny!" Harry yelled as he ran across the room towards the figure with his wand raised. The figure turned around and looked briefly at Harry before making a run for the portrait hole. Harry raised his wand and shouted "_Immobilus_," but it was too late. The creature had climbed through the hole and Harry's spell just seared the hem of its cloak as it was swept through the hole after its owner.

Harry dashed across the room and followed the figure through the hole, but by the time he was on his feet in the dark corridor, it was nowhere in sight. What Harry did see, however, was the wood he had heard cracking. Hanging by one hinge and completely mutilated beyond repair was the portrait of the Fat Lady that had for so long guarded the entrance to Gryffindor tower. Harry was hoping that Filch would somehow be able to restore her when Ginny poked her head out of the now thoroughly exposed hole.

"Is it gone?" she asked fearfully, looking up and down the deserted corridor. She gasped when she saw the Fat Lady's destroyed portrait. "Oh, Harry."

"What're you doing?" Harry hissed at her, trying to push her back through the hole and look around the corridor at the same time. "Get back inside! It might not be gone yet." Ginny retreated resentfully. After Harry had searched the corridor as thoroughly as he could by the dim light that was illuminating from the tip of his wand and was satisfied that whatever had attacked Ginny was not hiding in anywhere around the entrance to Gryffindor tower, he went back to rejoin Ginny in the common room.

"Ginny, are you alright?" Harry crossed to where Ginny was standing. She ran into his arms and was shaking so badly that Harry was sure she must be in shock.

"I'm f-fine," she said. It didn't hurt me."

"What on Earth was that thing?"

"It was a v-v-vampire," Ginny stuttered. She had pulled away from Harry and collapsed into an armchair by the dying embers in the fireplace and was now shuddering and crying, "I was sure it was g-going to k-kill me." She was absolutely bawling now.

Harry rushed over to her. He pulled her up out of the chair and held her in his arms while she cried. "It'll be okay," he said soothingly, "We'll catch it."

"What do we do now?" she asked. She was starting to calm down now and her voice was steadier. "We have to go wake Professor McGonagall."

"Yeah, but we need to wake the rest of Gryffindor Tower first," Harry said to her. "I just scared the vampire off, it could decide to come back, and we don't want any more surprise attacks."

"Right," she consented, "I'll go get all the girls up."

"Good. Tell everyone to bring their wands."

Harry set off back up the stairs, stopping at every dormitory on the way and ushering all of their sleepy inhabitants out with instructions to take their wands and go down to the common room. Finally, after having woken all the boys, and not even stopping to explain to a very cranky Ron, Harry ran back down to the common room and the confused and worried-looking Gryffindors. After instructing the others to wait patiently and keep their guard up, Harry called for all the sixth- and seventh-years to follow him. He led them through the portrait hole and as they all climbed out he motioned for them to turn around and have a look behind them.

The reactions were staggered, some people catching on before others. As people started realizing what had happened, some of them let out little yelps of surprise, some of them looked angry, but most of them looked downright terrified. Hermione actually burst out in tears and as Ron pulled her into a comforting embrace, he addressed Harry.

"What happened here?"

Ginny answered him. "I was sitting in the common room because I couldn't sleep, when I heard something banging outside the portrait hole. I started to go back upstairs and get my wand when the portrait broke open and someone came in. I turned around to look and it was a vampire." At this, almost everyone gasped and most of the girls who hadn't been crying before started to. Harry could see Hermione's tears glistening on the golden Head Boy badge that was pinned to the chest of Ron's bathrobe. Ron had obviously fastened it in a hurry after Harry woke him up, because it was pinned upside-down.

"What did you do?" Colin Creevey asked Ginny anxiously.

"Well," she continued, "I screamed, and as I didn't have my wand, I just sort of ran around the common room trying to get away from it. I didn't want to go back upstairs for my wand because I knew it would follow me and I didn't want it going after any of the other girls. It was backing me into a corner and I was sure I was done for when Harry turned up and frightened it off. Harry tried to jinx it, but it escaped out the portrait hole."

"You mean it's still in the castle somewhere!" yelled Ron, and a fresh wave of fear swept over the group.

"Yes," said Harry. "We need to go wake Professor McGonagall. Half of us should go and the others should stay with the younger kids. Sixth-years, you go back to the common room and tell everyone else what happened. Prefects, I want you and two others to stand guard in the hallway. Tell the fifth-year Prefects that they're in charge."

There was a murmur of assent as half the group went back through the hole. Ginny hung back from the group to kiss Harry on the cheek and whisper "Be careful, Harry," in his ear before following her classmates back into the common room. Harry turned back to face what remained of the group just in time to see the resentful look that Ron was giving him.

"Does anyone else want to stay?" Harry said to the seventh-years, putting aside momentarily Ron's hostility. "It could be really dangerous and I don't want anyone going who doesn't think they're up to it. There was only one vampire in Gryffindor Tower tonight, but who's to say there aren't more - or something even worse - lurking around out there?"

Several people looked as though they would love more than anything to stay behind. Parvati Patil was paler than ever and was trembling from head to foot, Neville Longbottom looked as though he had seen a ghost and was on the verge of tears, and Hermione was still trying to control her frightened sobbing, but no one backed out.

"Alright then," Harry said. "Let's go." And together, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Parvati, and Lavender set off down the dark corridor to the Headmistress's office.

**A/N: If you took time out of your busy day to read my story, **_**please**_** take and extra thirty seconds or so to tell me if you liked it! I will respond to all reviews the next day or even the same day! It takes you less than a minute, but it makes my day!!! **


	2. The Stranger

_**DISCLAIMER:**__ I'm not J.K. and these aren't my characters, places, etc., yadda yadda yadda. . ._

When the nervous group came to the first corner, Harry, who was in the lead, stopped and turned to face the rest of the group.

"If any of you want to go back," he said, "it's still not too late." No one said anything, but the way the group were all shuddering and glancing around nervously at each other gave Harry the distinct impression that most of them would give anything to return to warmth and relative safety of the Common Room, but as nobody spoke up, Harry continued.

"I know it's only a short way to McGonagall's office, but I think that as a precaution, we should all have a buddy." There were a few quiet murmurs of assent as the group all paired up. Harry was a bit hurt that Ron seemed not to have spared any thought for Harry before grabbing Hermione's hand and slipping a protective arm around her waist. He also noticed Ron rolling his eyes and was very grateful for the small slap Hermione gave Ron's arm by way of rebuke. _What's got his knickers in a knot?_ Harry thought to himself, as Neville rushed to his side. His clumsy friend brought Harry's mind sharply back to the situation at hand via accidentally treading on his foot.

"Ouch!" he hissed, as a throbbing pain made his left foot feel as though it were the size of a watermelon.

"Sorry Harry!" Neville paused, watching Harry massaging his foot. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Harry answered, trying to force a reassuring smile, "Don't worry about it Nev-"

"Great!" Ron interrupted with a mock-cheery voice, clapping his hands together. "Now we've all established that Harry's okay, d'you think we could get a move on? Personally, I'm not too keen on milling around in the corridors at night with a vampire running loose in the school." Ron's breathing was slightly heavier now, and his ears had gone beet red.

"_Ronald_," Hermione scolded him, "really! We've all got quite enough to be getting on with already without you adding to everyone's nerves!"

Ron opened his mouth to retort, thought better of it, and closed it again. Harry couldn't figure out what Ron's problem was. _But enough about Ron_, a stern voice said in Harry's head. Harry knew it wouldn't do any good to dwell on Ron's big-headedness now, but he couldn't shake off the feeling of absolute contempt his best friend was giving him.

"Ron does have a point you know," said Parvati, speaking up for the first time, "We should get going."

Harry nodded in agreement and turned back around to keep walking when Hermione grabbed his arm. "Harry, maybe we should check around the corners first. You know, like I did in our second year when the basilisk was loose."

"Yeah, I suppose that would be a good idea." Hermione had already taken a small, round, gold-framed mirror from the pocket of her pink bathrobe. As she handed it to Harry, he noticed something about the back of the mirror that almost made him drop it in surprise. Along the rim of the frame, Harry could just make out the miniscule initials that had been carved there, worn as they were from the many years the mirror must have seen. Harry managed to conceal his surprise. He didn't want to get everyone worked up about the mirror just now. There were far more important matters at hand.

After checking around the corner with the mirror, Harry assured the rest of the group that there was nothing in the adjacent corridor and, very hesitantly, handed the mirror back to Hermione. She seemed to have noticed something odd about the way Harry was acting, because she gave Harry a very confused look. "Later," he mouthed to her as discreetly as he could. She gave the tiniest of nods, and Harry knew that she would not let him "forget" to explain.

Harry led the way around the corner, disappearing just in time to miss the foot that had swept from under Ron's robes through the air to where he had been standing only a second before.

They were moving much slower than Harry would have liked, but there wasn't much he could do to get the others moving faster. The pain in his foot had subsided, and he could now feel Neville trembling next to him, hanging on to the sleeve of his bathrobe. All eight of the Gryffindors had their wands out, all pointing in various directions. Dean and Seamus had turned around and were now walking backwards, so as to prevent any surprise attacks.

They went on like this for some time, always stopping at the corners so Harry could check to see if anyone – or anything – was around the other side. After the third corner had been cleared, Harry made to give the mirror back to Hermione, but she wouldn't have it.

"Oh, just hold on to it for now," she said resignedly. "It just doesn't make sense to keep passing it back and forth like that." Harry nodded his thanks to her and dropped the mirror into his pocket. He disappeared around the corner, missing yet another of Ron's kicks. What he didn't miss, but also didn't want to think about at the moment, was the hesitant tone in Hermione's voice as she told Harry to keep the mirror. Harry couldn't make heads or tails of why she had the mirror in the first place, and her reluctance in giving it to Harry made it all the more suspicious. The mirror, however, was driven out of Harry's mind by movement ahead of them in the corridor.

The others had seen it, too. Something had definitely moved in the shadows up ahead. Harry motioned for the others to retreat back around the corner. He wished now, more than ever, that he had thought to bring his father's old Invisibility Cloak with him. Whatever had moved was still now, and remained hidden from view, but Harry continued to feel its presence. All of a sudden, the thing moved again, and to Harry's dismay, set off down the corridor towards Harry. The figure, as Harry could now see by the moonlight that was illuminating through the windows in the corridor, was tall and slender, hidden under a dark cloak. It was gliding gracefully, yet menacingly, towards Harry, gathering speed with every foot it overtook. Out of fear, and without stopping to consider, Harry raised his wand and yelled, "_Expelliarmus!_"

The figure was thrown backwards, and Harry heard a dull thud as it collided with the wall and slid to the floor. The rest of the group came running back around the corner and skidded to a halt behind Harry. "_Lumos_," Harry whispered, illuminating the tip of his wand like a Muggle flashlight, and heard everyone behind him follow suit. They crept forward towards the figure that was now slumped on the floor, apparently unconscious. As they got nearer to it, the figure stirred, making Lavender and Parvati shriek, and prompting Hermione's infamous full-body bind.

"_Petrificus Totalus_," she said hurriedly, making the figure's body straighten and freeze.

"Nice thinking, Hermione," Neville said with a small shudder, obviously recalling the occasion in their first year when he had been the unfortunate victm of the very same hex his bushy-haired friend had just peformed.

"Thanks," she breathed, panting, not taking her eyes off of the board-stiff figure that was lying at their feet.

**A/N: Since you have already taken so much time out of your day to read this, please spare an extra half a minute to tell me if it was any good! Reviews make my day and I am quick to respond to all of them!!!!**


	3. The Grand Unmasking

"Who is it?" Lavender asked nobody in particular.

"_What_ is it?" Seamus asked. Everyone stared at the figure on the floor in front of them. Harry reached down to remove the hood of its cloak. When he did, a collective gasp issued from the group around him.

Minerva McGonagall woke abruptly. She looked around the room, trying to remember where she was. After a moment she recognized her all-too-familiar surroundings. She had spent many a joyful hour in this office as a guest, so it was very hard for her to become accustomed to it being her own. Minerva looked up at the empty portrait that had been recently hung on the wall behind her desk. She had been contemplating, before she had fallen asleep at her desk, where Albus had another portrait. It seemed to her now to be a rather silly topic to ponder. Albus Dumbledore had been the greatest wizard of his time (which was saying something, as he had lived for a very long time) and was bound to have numerous portraits hung in various places all over the world.

She looked down at the paperwork she had been working on when she had dozed off. For the past four months, ever since Albus had been murdered, she had been constantly filling out paperwork, writing letters to appease the ministry and concerned parents, and trying to figure out how on earth she was going to fill her predecessor's shoes. The Headmistress sighed heavily at the dreadful task of corresponding with Rufus Scrimgeour and looked at the elegant grandfather clock that stood in the corner. Three o'clock in the morning. Deciding that she would finish in the morning (or later on that morning), Minerva rose from her chair and made her way to the tapestry of the Scottish Highlands that hung on the wall next to the clock. "_Lemon Drop_," she said to the tapestry. It magically dissolved away, revealing the small corridor that led to her rooms. Minerva was halfway down the corridor when she realized that she had left her wand at her desk. Going anywhere without a wand was a very stupid thing to do these days, so Minerva grudgingly turned back to her office to retrieve it. She smiled with a small chuckle and shook her head as she looked up to the frames of deceased Heads and saw that Albus Dumbledore had returned but was sleeping like a baby.

She picked up her wand and was about to utter the password to her rooms for the second time when there was a knock on the door. The mystery visitor surprised her momentarily, but she was comforted by the fact that a very limited number of people knew the password to the spiral staircase that led to her office door. She made her way to the door, but stopped suddenly. What if it was a trap? What if, on the other side of the door, there was a Death Eater who had forced the password out of someone she trusted and was just waiting for her to open the door so whoever it was could kill her? Minerva considered not answering the door and just going back to her room. Even if an imposter made it into her office, and even if they knew where the hidden entrance to her rooms was, no living soul knew the password besides Minerva. But if it really was an imposter, would they bother knocking first or would they just barge in and kill anything and everything in the room? Taking her chances, Minerva continued gingerly towards the door.

Her hand on the doorknob, another thought occurred to Minerva. She could perform the stunning spell as soon as she opened the door to catch a potentially unfriendly visitor off guard, and if it wasn't an imposter, she would simply apologize and explain her reasoning later. Minerva turned the doorknob slowly then yanked the door open as quickly as she could, yelled, "_Stupefy_!" and slammed the door. Now, very cautiously, she opened the door wide and looked out at her mystery guest. When the Headmistress saw the person who was crumpled on the floor at her feet, all composure was forgotten as she let out a bloodcurdling scream before falling to the floor in a dead faint. If she had been able to see, Minerva would have been very disappointed to see that the newest frame behind her desk was empty once again.

Hundreds of miles away, two men were speaking by candlelight.

"You're positive he was there?"

"I'm absolutely positive. I came straight here as soon as I saw him."

"What about the mirror? Did you take care of it?"

"No, but I gave it to-"

"WHAT? YOU DIDN'T DO IT YET? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? "

"I assure you, it is in very good hands. I never had a chance to take care of it, but there are people that I know I can trust with the task. The job will be done, I promise."

"Alright, but make it quick. Rónaszék is getting tired of waiting. He might have already sent someone after her."

The eight seventh-years could not believe their eyes. They all stared down at the person lying on the floor before them. After the initial shock wore off enough for them to pull their eyes away from the person they had attacked, the rest of the group all looked at Harry, who was still staring at the person at their feet. Hermione quietly whispered the counter-jinx to her full-body bind and the figure sat up and leaned against the wall. The person tried to stand up but was shaking too badly from the after-effect of the curses it they had been the victim of. Giving up on standing, the figure leaned back on the wall and looked at Harry.

"You!" Harry said angrily to the man that was now leaning limply on the wall. Harry didn't know whether to embrace the man or put another hex on him. He decided on giving the man the dirtiest look he could muster.  
"Come now, Harry," said the man in a very dry, croaky voice that sounded as though it hadn't been put to use in a very long time, "Is that any way to greet your godfather?"


	4. Deception

_**DISCLAIMER**____ I'm not Jo. Most of these characters aren't mine._

**A/N:** Oh my goodness!!!! If no one is reading this, I fully understand. Ten months is _entirely_ too long to go without updating!!!! Please forgive me! If it's any consolation, this is the longest chapter yet (even though it's still not particularly long). There will be some revisions to previous chapters to make the story flow more smoothly…

"Sirius…how—" Harry whispered. He was torn between overwhelming joy and anger at the sight of the man before him. He had, after all, spent the past year and a half mourning the death of his godfather, and now, the supposed deceased was standing in front of him and clearly expecting to be welcomed into open arms. Well, Harry wasn't going to let Sirius off for this one without a really good explanation.

"There's no time to explain that now," Sirius replied, "but I promise I'll tell you everything soon. Please don't be angry with me for making you grieve for so long. I had a very good reason, I promise."

Harry helped his godfather to his feet, still looking mutinously at him. Lavender and Parvati looked absolutely terrified; Dean and Seamus thunderstruck; and Ron and Hermione each had a mix of terror and shock on their faces. Poor Neville had gaped wordlessly for a bit, then passed out.

"_Ennervate_," Sirius said, pointing his wand at Neville, who woke with a start. Dean and Seamus pulled him to his feet and all three of them, along with the rest of the group, turned their eyes to Sirius.

"Well, Harry," Sirius prompted, "aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Right," Harry said, and without taking his eyes off Sirius, he said to the group, "Er…this is my godfather…Sirius Black. Sirius, you know Ron and Hermione; that's Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil." The Gryffindors each raised a hand or nodded when his or her name was mentioned.

"So what are you all doing wandering around?" Sirius asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Harry replied coldly.

"Fair enough. But you all know how dangerous it is to wander around at night nowadays."

"We're on our way to Professor McGonagall's office," Parvati said, and it was clear from her tone that this interruption of their progress was unwelcome.

"Why—"

"Ginny was attacked by a vampire in the Common Room," Hermione answered, before Sirius could finish the question. "She and Harry woke the rest of the House and now everyone's together in the Common Room. The Fat Lady's portrait was ripped to shreds…worse so than when you broke in during our third year."

"A vampire." Sirius repeated. The way he said it, it wasn't really a question. Harry could see the cogs turning in his godfather's head.

"Sirius?" Harry asked, "Do you know something about this?"

"What? Oh…no…," He shook his head as if to clear it of the daze that had come over him. Harry rather thought that Sirius knew more than he was letting on, which only added to his frustration at his godfather's unexpected reappearance.

Apparently he was not the one who could see past Sirius' unconvincing façade. Hermione was giving Sirius an _I-know-you're-up-to-something-and-I'm-going-to-find-out-what-it-is_ sort of look that Mrs. Weasley would have been immensely proud of. Harry met her eyes and knew she was thinking the same thing. Sirius was acting very oddly, and maybe he shouldn't be trusted?

"Well, anyway," Harry said, forcing himself to concentrate on his original task, "we need to get moving. That vampire could still be around, and we don't know what else could be in here."

The group moved on in silence, Harry checking around every corner with Hermione's mirror and mercifully unaware of Ron's continued and increasing acts of hostility. Several times, Harry turned a corner just in time to miss Ron's whispered (for Ron still had not mastered non-verbal spells) and poorly-aimed jelly-legs jinxes. The others in the group were noticing, though, and Ron could hardly manage to conceal a look of glee as Lavender's long-suppressed laughter manifested itself in a snort barely disguised as a sneeze and Harry, startled by the sudden noise, whipped around to find the source.

Even with the help of quite a few hidden passages and stairs, it still took the group longer than the normal route would normally have taken, due to their painfully slow pace. It also struck Harry as odd that Sirius, like the students minus the trio, did not seem to know about most of the detours they took. Harry though that Sirius would have known about these hidden corridors and stairs, as he had helped create a map of Hogwarts in his own school days that included all of these corridors and stairs, and from which Harry gained the knowledge of said corridors and stairs. Harry's suspicion rose with every floor they descended.

When they finally reached the stone gargoyle that marked the entrance to the Head Teacher's office without further incident, it was with a collective sigh of relief.

Harry, in whom Professor McGonagall had confided the password because of his frequent trips out of the castle and his involvement in the Order of the Phoenix, said "Ginger Newts," and the gargoyle leapt aside obediently.

The group climbed, with Harry in the lead, onto the staircase that led to McGonagall's new office, which revolved like a spiral escalator, taking the stairs two at a time. When Harry reached the top of the stairs, however, his sudden inability to move caused Ron and Hermione, who were on the step below him, to smack into him, which had a domino effect among the rest of the group, resulting in Sirius, who had taken up the rear, tumbling back to the bottom of the stairs, where the gargoyle had not yet returned to it's normal position.

"What the—?" Ron exclaimed, as Neville, to whom it had not occurred to lower his wand, accidentally jabbed him in the back.

Harry, without answering, stepped to the side so the others could see what he had seen. The office door was wide open and McGonagall was lying on the floor, wand held loosely, and apparently out cold. Lying in the doorway, clearly the victim of a Stunning spell, was—

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Harry said exasperatedly, staring at the unconscious form of Albus Dumbledore.

Somewhere in the Alps, Karl Kratanzki roared with anger. The entire operation was at risk of discovery, and all because that goat-worshiping git Abeforth couldn't do his job properly. Kratanzki paced nervously back and forth in his office in the Headquarters of The Torch, fearing the repercussions for his failure to choose a competent member of the organization to destroy the mirror.

"Do please calm down, Karl," said the portrait of Albus Dumbledore on the wall. "Rónaszék is at Hogwarts and is still, as far as I am aware, unconscious. Minerva always was particularly good at Stunning Spells, although his choice disguise may not have been very wise. I doubt he will wake of his own accord for quite some time."

"But Albus," Karl said, "you said yourself that the office door is wide open. Surely someone will discover—"

"What of Severus and Boislesang? Have you word of either?"

"NO!" Kratanzki shouted.

"Now, now, Karl. As frustrating as this situation is, shouting will solve nothing. Please lower your voice."

"Yes, of course," the Pole replied. Even in death, Albus Dumbledore had such an authoritative presence!

"I shall return to Hogwarts to check up on the situation," Dumbledore said, leaving his frame without waiting for the other man to reply.

Boislesang sat sulkily on the damp grass in the shadows at the base of the Astronomy Tower. He had been sent by Rónaszék to scare the girl into giving up the mirror, and had been thwarted by Harry Potter. He wasn't even entirely sure he had been scaring the right girl. He did know one thing, though: he was beginning to feel mutinous. Rónaszék had a way of making tasks seem simpler than they always turned out to be, and Boislesang was tired of being suckered into doing the ringleader's dirty work.

He had been hired by The Torch nearly three years ago, after the return of Lord Voldemort. He only took the post for protection. Voldemort had been seeking out the vampires to join his army, and Boislesang had known what the consequences of refusal would be. Now, however, he was contemplating leaving the group, though he was quite sure that would have more dire consequences than refusing to help Voldemort.

Boislesang sat in the shadows, trying to decide what to do next. He knew he could not return to Headquarters without the mirror, but he was not keen on reentering the castle. He had heard a rumor that Severus was also to be at the school tonight. Of course, it was only a rumor. Members of The Torch were only given information on a need-to-know basis; operations were executed with the utmost secrecy. He wondered what Snape could be doing at Hogwarts. Boislesang wondered how long the former professor would last within the walls of the school if his true identity were discovered. Between the Potter boy and the Headmistress, he doubted whether Snape would live more than five seconds.

Meanwhile, Sirius' head was spinning from his fall down McGonagall's revolving stone steps. Head throbbing painfully, he opened his eyes enough to see the stone gargoyle move back into place. Then, he felt the change coming on. He swore loudly and searched his pockets frantically. He found the flask in an inside pocket of his robes and tipped it into his mouth, only to find that it was completely empty.

"Damn it!" he yelled. He looked down angrily at his hands, the skin of which was bubbling and becoming paler. He felt his wais expanding and legs lengthening slightly and watched in horror as his hair grew into greasy black curtains in front of his eyes.

Severus Snape slammed his fists on the stone wall in anger.


End file.
